Babysitting the Barton Kids
by Greenleaf1493
Summary: Clint calls Natasha and Steve to babysit his kids as he has to rush a pregnant Laura to the hospital.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Three months had passed since the ULTRON fiasco, and for the Avengers that time seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. After getting back from Sokovia they'd buried Pietro, a death for which Steve still felt responsible, and then they'd concentrated on training. Natasha and Steve had quickly found a rhythm that worked for them, and for the new team. In little time the New Avengers made up by Vision, War Machine, Falcon, and the Scarlet Witch were ready for battle, and to the field they had gone with Captain America and the Black Widow as their co-leaders.

Everything had been running smoothly, although neither Steve, nor Nat could deny they missed their old team particularly Hawkeye who was an old friend of the spy's, and a close confidant for the Captain. To make up for the archer's absence, and also because of popular demand by the Barton children, Steve and Nat would be sure to always take time out to visit the farm. Lila and Cooper now loved uncle Steve almost as much as they loved aunt Nat. Wanda would also go with them on these visits, since the young girl had no one else to be with after the death of her twin brother. Lila and Cooper had basically adopted the young enhanced as an older sister of sorts, and Wanda was incredibly grateful for that.

The team was running a training exercise with Natasha when Steve interrupted, handing the spy her cellphone and taking over the class. Wanda was about to start target practice at Steve's command when Natasha rushed over to the two of them.

"Steve, it was Clint. He needs us down at the farm, Laura's having contractions," the redhead explained in a rush before running from the gym presumably to her room.

Steve hurriedly called a halt to training, and told everyone to take the week off before leaving the gym, tugging Wanda along.

"Change and meet us at the hangar, we're taking the Quin-Jet," he told the younger Avenger softly.

Wanda did as she was told, rushing into her room and having the fastest shower of her life before changing into comfortable clothes for the flight ahead. She was worried and could tell that Steve and Nat were worried as well, so she tried to hurry even more throwing random things into a bag.

She made it to the jet to find Steve and Natasha performing the pre-flight check, and as soon as she strapped in Natasha put the jet in the air toward Iowa.

"I thought Laura still had a month to go before the baby would be ready to be born," Wanda said softly.

She saw Steve close his hand around Natasha's, "That's why we need to get there fast. Right now Lila and Cooper are at the house alone, and Clint doesn't know how long they will take to get back to them."

"Oh, is Laura going to be okay?" She asked timidly.

Natasha unbuckled and moved closer, "We don't know, Wanda. They should be okay because the baby is only a month away from full tern, but we won't really know until the baby's born."

The flight to Iowa took an hour and a half at high speed, and Steve parked the jet in the corn fields close to the Barton farm. The three of them hurried to the front door of the house and entered to find Lila and Cooper sitting on the living room couch looking scared. As soon as the kids saw them they ran to Natasha and Steve who quickly hugged them.

"You're here," Lila said from Steve's arms.

"Of course we did, and we brought Wanda along with us," Steve told her before putting the little girl back on the ground. Lila hugged the older girl before grabbing her hand and pulling her to the couch.

"Is my mummy going to be okay?" Lila asked of Wanda.

"I don't know, little one, but we have to hope that she will be," Wanda answered. "What do you guys want to do while we wait for your dad to call?"

"Can we color?" Lila asked.

"Sure," Steve answered.

The four of them sat down to draw and/or color according to their preference while Natasha sat on the floor by Steve's legs trying to read a book. The fact that she kept glancing at her phone every few minutes, gave Wanda a clue as to the amount of tension the redhead was experiencing. Steve was the only one of them who was really handling the stress well, and even then it was a close thing. When the phone rang almost two hours later Natasha jumped up to answer it.

"Clint," she said practically breathless from the relief of hearing from her best friend, "how are things going?"

Natasha was silent as she listened to whatever reply Clint gave her, and the spy's face betrayed nothing. Wanda and Steve exchanged a look knowing that if Natasha was keeping up the Black Widow's mask then the news couldn't be good.

"Hey kiddo, your dad wants to talk to you," Natasha told the kids after about twenty minutes of listening to Clint.

Wanda watched as Natasha handed the phone to Cooper before moving to Steve's arms; it wasn't the first time she saw the only other female Avenger rush to the Captain's arms looking for comfort. The first time had been after Natasha had come back from their first weekend off from training. Steve and Wanda had come down to the Barton farm, but the master spy had spent the first two days of the long weekend elsewhere. She'd arrived under a downpour on Sunday looking hurt and with red rimmed eyes. Clint had opened the door, taken one look at her and pointed her in the direction of Steve all in the space of half a minute. Natasha had moved silently until she was standing in front of the soldier who immediately enveloped her in his arms. At seeing that, Wanda had left the room to give them some privacy and when she saw Natasha later on that same day she'd looked normal.

The same scene had been played out a few other times with Wanda or Sam as sole witnesses to the affection that existed between the two. Now it was happening again, although here neither of the two bothered to hide their affection, instead they hugged openly and Wanda smiled at the feeling of safety and warmth that spread through her body from the two. Steve smiled at her and motioned for the youngest Avenger to move closer to them. The super soldier hugged her with one hand, bringing both girls close to his chest, and Wanda smiled wider as she felt the warmth and tranquility that flowed through Natasha at that moment.

"Are Laura and the baby out of danger?" Wanda asked Natasha in Russian.

"She had a placental abruption, but the doctors are confident they'll be able to deal with it. She's still in surgery, but on the last update given to Clint they were optimistic," the spy answered making both Steve and Wanda sigh with relief.

Steve let go of the two girls and moved toward Lila and Cooper who were just hanging up the phone, he scooped Lila up into his arms as the little girl giggled, "Daddy said the doctors are working on mummy, but that she should be okay."

"That's right, so now that we know that what do you say to helping me bake some cookies to take to her at the hospital?"

Lila continued to giggle as she nodded her head yes at her uncle Steve's suggestion which made Natasha smile brightly, "Are you gonna help your sister and uncle Steve in the kitchen kiddo?" The spy asked Cooper.

Cooper chuckled at his aunt's question, but quickly made his way into the kitchen to help with the baking. Natasha and Wanda remained in the living room picking up the drawing and coloring supplies. Twenty minutes later they went into the kitchen to find pretty much a mess, but at least Cooper and Lila were happy again.

"What happened here?" Natasha asked.

"I was betrayed by them," Steve said laughing, he was covered in flour as was most of the kitchen and the two giggling kids.

"Yeah, auntie Nat, we attacked uncle Steve," Lila said with a cute little giggle that absolutely melted both Natasha and Wanda.

Wanda smiled at the three, grabbed some flour with his powers and threw it at Natasha who had been distracted with trying to clear some of the white powder from Steve. The redhead stopped mid motion, causing Lila to giggle again.

"Did you just throw flour at me?"

"It slipped," Wanda said innocently.

Natasha grinned at that and grabbed some eggs from the counter which she proceeded to break over Wanda's head. The two of them laughed like crazy until some more flour was thrown at them.

Natasha laughed even louder, "Ok, now it's a war," she told Steve and the kids as she and Wanda grabbed more ingredients with which to attack.

The result of the unplanned food fight were hilarious, there was white powder, eggs, and other substances everywhere. Thankfully the house had a door off the kitchen which led outside, they used that door to get out to the patio where Steve had to hose everyone down. Despite wincing at the mess they'd left behind Steve couldn't be happier with the results of the impromptu food fight since both Lila and Cooper seemed lighter after it. Since it was late the kids were sent up to shower, as were Natasha and Wanda while Steve tidied up in the kitchen and prepared some dinner.

Steve's phone rang as he was finishing up the spaghetti he was preparing, "Hey Clint, how's everything going over there?"

"It's going good, Laura's out of surgery and the baby's fine. They both are, she can receive visitors tomorrow."

"That's good, we'll take the kids to see you guys at around 10 if you that's fine."

"It is. Thanks for doing this man, I know you guys were working on new strategies with the team..."

Steve cut Clint up, "You don't have to thank me, Clint. You, Laura and the kids have become a second family to me. I'm glad she and Nate are doing well now. Do you want to talk to the kids?"

"Nah, just tell them I called and that me and their mum love them very much and will see them tomorrow."

"Sure, have a good night and congrats Clint," Steve said before hanging up.

"Was that Clint?" Natasha asked coming into the kitchen from the stairs.

"It was," Steve answered. "He says Laura and Nate are fine now, and that she can receive visitors tomorrow."

"That's great," Natasha said with a big smile, "you should go shower and change. I'll finish up in here."

"I will, but please try not to burn my spaghetti," he said chuckling as he ran away from the redhead.

"That wasn't funny, Steve!"

"In my opinion that was hilarious," he called from the stairs.

Steve came back downstairs ten minutes later dressed in pajama pants and a white t-shirt. Wanda, Cooper and Lila were already sitting at the table watching as Natasha took the garlic bread he had prepared out of the oven, "You didn't burn my spaghetti did you, agent Romnoff?" He asked in what the spy called his Captain America voice.

Natasha whirled around as he obviously took her by surprise, Steve counted that as a victory since it was so hard to catch her by surprise, "Of course I didn't, Rogers. We were just waiting on you, didn't want such a senior citizen to have to eat his dinner by himself."

"Hilarious, Nat."

"I thought so," she said with a bit of teasing to her voice.

He shook his head the redhead before helping her move the bowl of spaghetti and meatballs to the table. They all ate their food, conversation flowing easily among them. After a filling dinner, Steve helped the kids decorate the cookies they'd baked and then Wanda and Natasha took them up to wash their teeth. Steve cleaned up the kitchen quickly before going up to Lila's room where everyone else was gathered. Between the three adults the Barton kids got a bedtime story and Steve ended up carrying Cooper to his room after the little boy fell asleep on his sister's bed.

"What should we do now?" Wanda asked.

"You are going to bed," Steve told her softly.

"But..."

"No protests, Steve's right. You're tired, we had a late night because of the mission and then we were training so it's bed for you. I'll help the fossil over here in packaging the cookies."

Wanda giggled at Steve's look of mock annoyance, and although she wanted to help knew they were right about her being tired, "You're right. I'm sorry for not helping."

"Don't be," Steve said, placing a kiss to her forehead and sending her off to bed. Natasha gave her a hug and she went off to the guest bedroom she normally occupied when staying at the farm.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I forgot to post this on the first chapter, but here it goes. I own nothing, all the characters belong to marvel, Disney, and Stan Lee. The only thing mine is the plot and steve's friend. Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 2**

Steve and Natasha spent fifteen minutes packing the cookies and tidying up what was left of the mess in the kitchen before heading back upstairs. The two went into the nursery to see it only half finished since Clint had been sure he still had time. Now he didn't, and although the furniture in the room had been assembled, it wasn't placed in the correct spaces and the walls were yet to be painted.

"Clint really should've had this room finished by this point," Natasha said eyes on the faded paint of the walls.

"Probably," Steve agreed as he moved further inside the room and grabbed the paint canisters which were waiting by the changing table.

"What are you doing?"

"Painting, and after I finish I'll arrange the furniture. I don't want them to come home to an unfinished nursery."

Natasha nodded, and watched him pour paint onto a tray. Her blond partner grabbed roller and began painting the nursery walls a soothing blue. She wordlessly took a brush and started painting the lowest part of the walls, being careful to not get any green paint onto the hardwood floors. When she finished helping with what she could, the spy sat down and watched the artist in Steve come out. She was transfixed as the wall behind where the crib would go was transformed into a forest. Steve had painted half of it blue to signify the sky, the other half was green with trees and animals that had been carefully drawn and then painted by the soldier. The design flowed easily with the theme Laura had picked out, and Natasha couldn't help but grin at the sweetness of Steve's gesture. The other walls were painted a very light grey color which contrasted well with the room's furniture.

"What do you think?" Steve asked her when he'd finished at around three in the morning.

"It looks really good, soldier," she answered truthfully.

He smiled at her, and his grin widened when he noticed just how tired she was, "We should go to bed, I'll move the furniture once Lila, Cooper, and Wanda are awake."

The two of them moved out of the nursery and down the hall to the guest bedroom they were occupying, and Natasha collapsed on the bed while Steve moved into the bathroom in order to shower again. The blond soldier stepped out of the bathroom in pajama pants sans shirt only to smile at the image of his favorite redhead asleep on the middle of the bed. Steve chuckled and gently began to shift her to the side until he could also slide into bed. The moment he was settled, the spy turned and cuddled up to him.

"Sleep, Natasha," the blond man whispered, pressing a fond kiss to his partner's forehead before he too drifted off.

Steve woke up at five thirty feeling rested despite the fact he'd gone to bed late, such was the blessing of the super soldier serum. He smiled down at the head of red curls resting on his chest, and gently pried himself away from Natasha and their warm bed. After washing his teeth and putting on a t-shirt, he padded barefoot out of the room and across the hall to Cooper's bedroom. As he expected, the brown haired little boy was awake and watching cartoons on his tv.

"Morning," Steve called.

"Morning, uncle Steve," Cooper answered, "do you need any help with breakfast?"

"That depends," he said back, "are you going to mutiny like you did yesterday?"

The question earned a laugh from his teammates' oldest son, "No, that was all Lila, she's the revolutionist around here."

"Then come on soldier because I'm going to need the help."

By the time the girls finally woke and trudged their way into the kitchen, Cooper and Steve - mostly Steve - had wiped up a variety of breakfast foods. Knowing that both Lila and Natasha liked blueberry pancakes they'd prepared a batch of those, another of chocolate chip pancakes for Wanda, and plain buttermilk pancakes for themselves. There was also scrambled and fried eggs, toast, coffee, tea, milk, juice, and fruit to choose from. Steve normally wouldn't have made so much food, but he knew that Clint would appreciate them taking him some food, as would Laura if she was allowed solids by the time they made it to the hospital.

Lila hugged her uncle Steve and sat next to him to eat her breakfast, Wanda called a sleepy good morning to everyone at the table before sitting and snatching a cup of coffee, while Natasha just sat and went for the tea. Steve grinned, neither of the two female Avengers liked mornings, and unless on a mission Natasha was never coherent enough for conversation until after her second cup of either coffee or tea, the choice depending on her mood.

"Thanks for the food, Steve," Natasha whispered after downing her tea.

"You're welcome, I figured we had to make sure not to starve without Sam around."

Natasha playfully glared at him, "Just because I can't make pancakes doesn't mean we would've starved without Wilson around, old man."

"Yeah, you would have served a delicious bowl of cereal," Steve teased the redhead.

"Keep teasing and I might stop serving those delicious bowls of cereal for you whenever you're too hurt for even your serum to fast track your healing process."

"Ok, ok, I give," Steve said with a full on laugh.

Wanda giggled at the banter of the two, was it really any wonder the team thought of them and called them mum and dad behind their backs? She shook her head, but couldn't help teasing Steve as well, "You know you could stop taking care of him altogether. No more beef stroganoff or any of the really delicious Russian dishes he's so fond of."

"That's a good idea."

"No that's a terrible idea. Come on, Nat you know I was just teasing."

"I know," she said giving the soldier a kiss on the cheek.

Lila giggled at her aunt and uncle, "What are we doing today, uncle Steve?"

"We are taking you guys to see your parents and new baby brother."

"Really?"

"Yup," Steve said, tapping her nose gently.

Lila giggled even harder at that, "Can we take mummy her cookies?"

"You bet we can. So after we finish with breakfast you guys can go get changed with help from Wanda and auntie Nat while I finish up the nursery."

Lila and Cooper brightened up at the mention of going directly to their mum at the hospital, and ate their food as humanly possible. Once finished they all went their separate ways with Steve taking care to pack the food they'd be taking to the hospital for Clint, and arranging the furniture in the nursery before getting dressed himself.

 **At the hospital**

Clint was sitting on a chair next to Laura's bed, their son cradled in her arms. She looked tired, but happy and their baby boy looked healthy despite being born a month early. He looked at his watch and smiled at seeing the time, Steve and Nat were probably already at the hospital and he couldn't wait for his older kids to meet their baby brother.

Soon enough there was a timid knock at the door, before it opened slowly revealing Steve holding Lila's hand.

"Good morning, can we come in?"

Laura smiled from her place on the bed, "Sure you can."

"Yeah, lady bug come here and meet your baby brother," Clint said hoisting up his only daughter.

They all moved into the room, calling various greetings as they went. Clint put Lila down and grabbed Nate from her arms so she could greet her older children. To say that the two were excited was an understatement, and although tired, she couldn't stop smiling at their enthusiasm. She glanced over to where Natasha and Clint were cooing over the baby as they had since her husband's redheaded friend had entered the room. To say that they were both assassins and masters spies seemed ludicrous at that moment. Or maybe it was just baby Barton's. Clint shifted Nate back into her arms so that Lila and Cooper could get a good look at their new sibling. Lila's eyes widened as she took in the baby's features. It was hard to tell which parent he favored the most at the moment, but Laura had a good feeling that he was probably going to resemble Clint like Lila.

Steve and Wanda were standing close to the door of the room trying to stay out of the way for the most part and that was not okay with Laura, "What are you two doing over there? Come meet Nate," Laura basically ordered.

Wanda smiled and moved closer to the bed to meet Nate who Laura had passed back into Clint's arms. Steve for his part stepped up to Laura herself and handed her the gift bag he was carrying, while he kept another two neatly wrapped packages in his arms.

"Lila and Cooper were supposed to give you this bag, but they're too excited over Nate," the blond soldier told her with a smile as he motioned to a sea green gift bag he handed her.

Laura opened it to find cookies which had no doubt been baked and decorated by her children with help from their uncle Steve, "Thanks, I have no doubt these are delicious, but you didn't have to do this."

"I know, but it kept them entertained for a while and now you have something to share with the hospital staff while you stay here."

Steve handed her the two packages in his hands, which Laura was really excited about opening. The two boxes were wrapped in white paper stamped with baby elephants in various shades of green and blue. Clint had handed the baby to Natasha and moved closer to her side, curious about what his Captain had handed her, and between the two of them proceeded to open the first gift. Laura gasped when she finally saw what was inside the box. It was the softest blanket she had ever touched, one side was purple, Hawkeye's color, and the other side was black with the Avengers logo in the center and the anime versions of each Avenger repeated over and over again in a pattern over the whole thing.

"Oh my god, Steve, this is beautiful, where did you get it?"

Steve blushed, "A close friend of mine made it, after I mentioned to her that a friend of mine was pregnant. She figured whatever friend I was talking about had to be part of the team, so that's where the inspiration for the theme came from."

Laura smiled at the young man, "Well you can thank her from us, this is truly exquisite work."

"You might want to open the other box, before thanking me," Steve said sheepishly.

The two older Bartons did just that and inside that box they found stuffed bears, each one resembling one of the Avengers and even dressed in their uniforms, Hawkeye's bear carried his bow and everything.

"What? I never thought I'd get to see myself as a bear that's for sure," Clint said chuckling softly.

"Those are also thanks to my friend, she really ran with the theme."

Laura laughed softly, "These are incredibly cute."

"I'll tell her you said so."

Steve moved to where Natasha was sitting with Nate in her arms, and the spy immediately shifted the baby into his hold. The soldier looked startled at first, but soon enough looked comfortable with holding the little bundle in his arms.

Laura shifted down on the bed, letting the various conversations from her family wash over her.

"He's so small!" Lila exclaimed, looking at her baby brother being cradled by their uncle Steve. The older girl tilted her head to the side with a soft smile.

"But he will get bigger soon," he assured her. "As his big sister you're going to help your mum and dad take care of him, right?."

"Yeah, me and Cooper will help take care of him."

Laura smiled, "Clint maybe you want to tell them?"

"Tell us what?" Natasha asked; she, Wanda, Lila and Cooper were still at Steve's side happily watching Nate.

"Our decision. We were talking, and we want you and Steve to be his godparents."

Steve and Natasha both looked startled, but also touched by their decision.

"That is of course if you two accept the responsibility," Laura interjected.

"We do," Natasha said softly before moving to hug Clint.

"Thank you," she whispered to him.

"You're welcome," he said back, hugging her tight.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I still own nothing.**

 **Chapter 3**

Steve smiles wide as he hears the voices drifting from the living room, he's in the kitchen, making some lunch for everyone. Wanda and Natasha are with the kids watching _Frozen_ on the tv in the living room, and the two have been singing along with Lila to every single song - it's cute he's not going to deny it, but it also distracts him from what he's doing which is why the food isn't done yet. After spending close to two hours at the hospital the day before, they'd all agreed that it was better if the older Barton kids spent the day at home today, and that's what they were doing. So far everything was fine, they'd already called their parents and had been reassured that they'd be home by the next day with their new baby brother.

The five of them had already played outside most of the morning, which was why they were now so happily sitting and watching a film. Steve had decided that since the day before they'd had lunch and dinner out, they should really make an effort and cook today. So in to the kitchen he'd gone to prepare some food for all the hungry mouths. He'd decided on home-made pizza because why not? It wasn't like the kids weren't going to burn the calories down, so he didn't see the harm in making them a pizza.

The pizza and breadsticks finally went into the oven around the time he heard _Let it Go_ end, and yes, he knew the song - both he and Clint did and he suspected that even Tony did as well - because Lila loved the movie and whenever her dad or her honorary uncles took her anywhere that song had to be playing on the car's radio. He didn't mind having memorized it, because Lila just got this huge smile whenever they sang along with her that just melted his heart. Steve seriously adored the kid, but so did everyone else. He smiled at the thought before making his way to the living room and sitting on the armchair. Natasha smiled at him like she knew what he was thinking and then laughed softly when Lila automatically moved from her spot on the floor to settle in his lap.

"You know, I think she loves you more now," she whispered to him.

Steve frowned and Lila giggled, "I love you both, auntie Nat, but uncle Steve is fun to snuggle with."

"I can't argue with you there, kiddo," Natasha agreed, tapping her niece's nose and making the girl giggle even harder.

With that they settled down in silence to finish the movie, and Steve only moved when the timer for the pizza went off twenty minutes later. He brought the food out with some plates and cokes for everyone and they all ate while watching the movie.

"Wanda?" Lila asked quietly once the movie had ended, "would you braid my hair like Elsa's?"

Wanda smiled at the little girl and motioned her closer so that she could of course braid her hair. Cooper for his part helped Steve take everything back to the kitchen and tidy up in there while his sister got her hair done.

"So you excited to have a little brother around?" Steve asked

Cooper got a huge smile on his face, eyes bright, "Yeah! I can't wait for Lila and I to start teaching him stuff, it'll be fun."

Steve chuckled, "Yeah it will. So what do you want to do now?"

"Can we go outside and play with your shield?"

"Sure we can," Steve replied with a grin.

"Yes! Let me go get Lila," and Cooper was off running back into the living room.

Steve went upstairs to the bedroom he shared with Nat and grabbed his shield, "So you're going to let them actually play with your shield?"

Nat's voice startled him. He turned toward the door and there she was leaning against a wall, arms crossed lazily over her chest.

"Yeah," he said, rubbing his neck sheepishly, "I mean, you never know when that might come in handy."

Natasha got a teasing grin on her face, "Your such a softy with them, and wait until I tell Wilson that you let Lila and Cooper play with the shield, but not him."

Steve groaned, but moved closer to her, "I've let Sam use the shield, just not on a mission."

"I know," she grinned and hugged herself close to him. "Plus I'm pretty sure that if you let him go on a mission with it, he might not give it back, and then you'd be out of a job, and there's not many openings out there for a man of your age, Captain."

He laughed at her teasing and kissed the top of her head, "That's a frightening concept," he joked right back.

They broke apart at the sound of giggling from outside, "You should get out there, soldier otherwise your troops might mutiny."

Steve grinned at her, "Are you planning something with them?"

"Maybe, you won't know unless we make it downstairs."

Steve chuckled and grabbed her hand, pulling her out of the room and down the hall with him. The two continued holding hands until they made it outside.

"Uncle Steve are we really going to use your shield?" Lila asked him.

"Yeah we are, although you're going to have to let me and auntie Nat help you catch it because of the magnets, ok?"

Lila and Cooper both nodded their heads, making the three adults smile and decide to begin the game. It was simple really Cooper started with throwing the shield in the general direction of Wanda, who diverted it at Nat and Lila. Natasha used the magnets to catch the shield and then handed it to Lila for the little girl to toss. The two leaders of the Avengers taught the kids how to best throw the shield for it to ricochet off the red barrier Wanda had erected, and while they had fun, they also learned how to throw it, just in case it ever became necessary.

Then Wanda changed the game on them a bit when she used her powers on the hose, and began randomly spraying them with water. This prompted them all to hide behind the shield to try and plot to get her back. Steve was selected to run and get the water pistols for all of them, which he did although he got soaked in the process. Then it was all about someone distracting Wanda enough for the other three or two to open fire one her.

They ran around the yard, getting soaked and laughing until everyone turned on Steve, leaving him even more soaked than before and shaking his head at the betrayal.

"I can't believe this, even you Cooper. We're supposed to stick together," Steve said dramatically from his place on the ground.

They all laughed, "Well it's into the house now because you guys need to get dry," Wanda said to Lila and Cooper.

The two kids didn't even complain and went in with Wanda, leaving Steve and Natasha alone outside. The spy sat down next to the soldier in the grass and smiled, "That was fun."

"It was," Steve agreed quietly. He was a little distracted by the way the sun was hitting her hair perfectly and he wanted nothing more at that moment than to draw her, "You look beautiful, you know that right?"

Natasha shook her head at him, "Flattery will get you nowhere with me, soldier."

"It isn't flattery if it's the truth."

She smiled at him and kissed his cheek, "You're something else, Rogers."

Steve chuckled and got up, "We should go inside as well, you wouldn't want your favorite senior citizen to get a cold, would you?"

Natasha laughed, "Who says you're my favorite? Besides it isn't even possible for you to get a cold."

Steve shrugged and grabbed her hand, pulling her up from the grass much to her protests.

"Noooo," she said laughing and slumping back toward the grass, "I'm too tired to walk." The blond rolled his eyes at her, but pulled her slight form up into his arms making her snuggle into his warmth. He began walking to the house while carrying her, "Steve," she called softly and waited until he looked at her, "you are my favorite, just so you know."

He grinned at her and held her a bit tighter, "I know, you're my favorite as well."

 **Break**

The next day arrived soon enough for the inhabitants of the farm and dawn saw the Captain making breakfast once again. The night before he and Nat had made sure everything was prepared for Clint and Laura's arrival with baby Nate, and now they would just be waiting for them to make their way home from the hospital. Clint had called late saying that they were likely to be released before breakfast which was why Steve was once again cooking enough to feed a small army. He had everyone's favorite dish or drink prepared and he was only mixing the last of the pancake batter when he heard Clint's truck drive up to the house.

He put the bowl down on the counter before going to the door and outside. As soon as Clint stopped the truck, he went for the boot and grabbed the luggage there.

"Morning, Cap," Clint called from where he was helping Laura down.

"Morning. How are you guys feeling?"

He asked with a small smile as he moved to support Laura while Clint grabbed Nate's carseat.

"I'm feeling better, definitely glad to be out of the hospital," Laura said.

"The kids are going to be thrilled to see you when they wake up."

The three made their way back into the house, chatting softly among themselves mindful of the sleeping newborn in the carseat.

"It smells delicious in here," Clint said once they were inside the warm kitchen.

"I was prepping breakfast when I heard the truck. I just have to cook the pancakes and we can eat."

"Sounds perfect," Laura said.

"Yeah, Cap, hospital food just can't compare to what you cook."

Steve chuckled at the archer and Laura giggled at her husband, shaking her head softly, "You're going to make him think the only reason you have him around is for his cooking."

"Nah," Clint chuckled, "it's not just for his cooking, he's great at helping me fix the roof as well."

Steve laughed at that, but shooed the archer out of the kitchen with instructions to wake everyone else up so they could eat. Once everyone was up they ate the food that had been prepared by the captain, and Wanda decided to entertain Cooper and Lila while Nat and Steve took Laura and Clint up to the nursery. The youngest Avenger had seen the finished room the night before and she had been amazed so she was sure that Laura and Clint would love it. Something that she and Natasha had reassured Steve about, but he was still nervous about their reaction.

Steve helped Laura go up the stairs and to the second floor of the house while Natasha carried her godson.

"Clint, you're going to have to speed up the process of painting the nursery," Laura said teasingly to her husband.

The archer groaned, "I know."

"Actually you might not have to do that," Natasha said with a secretive smile as she opened the door to the baby's room.

The redhead laughed at the expression on her best friend's face when he saw what was behind the door, "It looks like someone beat me to the painting."

"Sorry, I just knew he took you by surprise so I thought I'd finish the process. I can paint it over if you don't like it," Steve said uncertainly.

"Are you insane, Steve? This looks beautiful. You didn't have to do this, it must have taken hours," Laura said softly, her eyes still glued to the mural Steve had painted on the wall behind Nate's crib.

"It was nothing, it just went with the theme I guess."

"You guess?" Clint asked, "You're just something else, Cap. You didn't have to do this man, but thank you. It looks absolutely fantastic and I'm sure Nate'll love it."

The archer gave his captain a pat on the back, and Laura gave him a kiss on the cheek in thanks.

"We'll leave you to it," Natasha said before grabbing her partner's hand and moving outside the room. "I told you they were going to love it."

"I know," Steve said.

"I love you, soldier, even if you're ridiculous sometimes."

Steve grinned, "I love you too."

Natasha kissed his cheek, and they both went back downstairs, letting the new parents have a bit more peace before unleashing their oldest kids on them. After all, the Avengers would always be needed to save the world, and the two of them along with Wanda had to go back to the team.


End file.
